Next week’s the last week before we break up for Christmas. It’s a busy week, so please check our school calendar. We’ve noticed a few children appear more tired than usual so make sure your child gets plenty of sleep so they can enjoy the last week.

At Moortown Primary, we’ve a schedule of visits for each class in school. This week, it was the turn of the Y5 and Y6 children to go on a visit – they went to the Leeds Discovery Centre and the Royal Armouries:

• ‘The workshops were great and we saw some real artefacts that were about Ancient Egypt.’
• ‘We even held a piece of rock that was used in one of the Egyptian pyramids.’
• ‘When we went into the Armouries, we saw lots of things to do with war and this will be a topic later in the year so that was really interesting.’
• ‘There was a bit of time where we could go in the store room and we saw a real ‘mummy’ – not sure if it was real but it looked it!’

Keep reading!

Even during all the excitement in the run up to the Christmas holidays, we continue to teach Phonics lessons and maintain as many reading practice sessions as we can in Early Years and Key Stage 1. You can help at home by reading to or with your child during the Christmas holidays. It’s a wonderful way for children to relax, explore their imagination and continue learning. Stories about winter adventures, festive traditions, or magical journeys can spark creativity and deepen their love for books. Reading also strengthens vocabulary, comprehension, and critical thinking, keeping young minds active while school is out. It’s a great opportunity to bond over shared stories or bedtime tales. Encourage your child to pick a book they’ll love – whether it’s about reindeer, snowmen, or elves – and make reading a cosy, fun holiday tradition this Christmas!

Staying healthy in the winter months

The UK Health Security Agency has published advice on how to reduce the spread of winter illnesses.

Please remember to follow NHS guidance to know when a child is too ill for school. Pupils should not miss school ‘just in case’ – they can normally attend school with a cough or cold, but not with a fever or diarrhoea and vomiting.

Talk to your child about staying safe online

Most of us tend to think of our online and offline lives as separate, but children today are growing up with technology and the internet as a natural part of their lives. To them there isn’t a separation. It’s all just life. The internet is now part of the real world.

Talking to your child about what they do online is just as important as asking where they are going when they go out with their friends. It can be difficult starting the conversation with your child about their online activities. Technology keeps changing and you might find it overwhelming trying to keep up with it all, but you don’t need to. You just need to take an interest in what apps and games your child is using. That’s the best place to start. Your child might not want to share anything with you at first, but keep trying.

Having honest and open conversations with your child and speaking to them regularly about what they’re doing online could be crucial in giving your child the confidence to tell you if they’ve seen something that makes them feel uncomfortable or may highlight someone who is wanting to cause harm.

Further guidance is available on the LSCP website as well as information on how to set up parental control on all the devices that your child uses.

We’ll end on a highlight of Mrs Weekes’ week…

‘Having my Christmas lunch with Year 5. I found out what they were up to over the Christmas holidays, which family they were meeting up with, and chatting about what other families do if they don’t celebrate Christmas. It was a lovely conversation and a lovely way to spend my lunchtime!’